Browsing by Author "Donato, Marcos De"
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Item Open Access Differential IFN-Gamma (IFN-γ), Interleukin 10 (IL-10) and Cardiac Troponin I (cTnI) Responses in Natural Bovine Trypanosomosis in Nigeria(Department of Animal Science, Nasarawa State University, Keffi., 2016-09-14) Yakubu, Abdulmojeed; Takeet, Michael I.; Fagbemi, Benjamin O.; Peters, S.O; Wheto, M.; Donato, Marcos De; Imumorin, I.GTrypanosomosis is major drawback to profitable livestock production in sub-Sahara African, including Nigeria. Knowledge of the cytokines production in the phase of natural infection may help to better diagnose, treat and prevent bovine trypanosomosis. The purpose of the this study was to determine the levels of interferon-gamma (IFN-γ), interleukin-10 (IL-10) and cardiac troponin–I (cTnI) in the sera of cattle naturally infected with T. brucei, T. congolense and T. vivax and correlate these levels with parasitaemia and PCV of the infected animals. Five milliliter of blood samples were collected via the jugular vein from 411 randomly selected cattle into EDTA and non-citrated bottle. PCV was determined manually using HCT. Trypansomes were detected and characterized by microscopy and PCR, respectively. Serum levels of IFN-γ, IL-10 and cTnI were determined using commercial ELISA kit. Data were summarized using descriptive statistic and significance of differences determined by ANOVA. Of the 62 samples positive for trypanosomes by microscopy, 50 samples were confirmed to species level by PCR. The sera levels of IFN-γ, IL-10 and cTnI of infected cattle were higher than non-infected cattle. The differences were not significant (p < 0.05) from the non-infected cattle except IL-10. There was no correlation between assayed parameters, the PCV and parasitemia. This is the first report that determines the sera levels of IFN-γ, IL-10 and cTnI in cattle with natural trypanosomosis. Further investigation is required to understand the specific effect of trypanosomes on myocardiac integrity and interaction between the two cytokines in natural trypanosomosis in cattle.Item Open Access Evolutionary Pattern of Interferon Alpha Genes in Bovidae and Genetic Diversity of IFNAA in the Bovine Genome(Department of Animal Science, Nasarawa State University, Keffi., 2020-02-12) Peters, S.O; Hussain, Tanveer; Adenaike, Adeyemi S.; Hazzard, Jordan; Morenikeji, Olanrewaju B.; Donato, Marcos De; Paul, Sujay; Babar, Masroor; Imumorin, I.G; Yakubu, AbdulmojeedInterferons are secretory proteins induced in response to specific extracellular stimuli which stimulate intra- and intercellular networks for regulating innate and acquired immunity, resistance to viral infections, and normal and tumor cell survival and death. Type 1 interferons plays a major role in the CD8 T-cell response to viral infection. The genomic analysis carried out here for type I interferons within Bovidae family shows that cattle, bison, water buffalo, goat, and sheep (all Bovidae), have different number of genes of the different subtypes, with a large increase in the numbers, compared to human and mouse genomes. A phylogenetic analysis of the interferon alpha (IFNA) proteins in this group shows that the genes do not follow the evolutionary pattern of the species, but rather a cycle of duplications and deletions in the different species. In this study we also studied the genetic diversity of the bovine interferon alpha A (IFNAA), as an example of the IFNA genes in cattle, sequencing a fragment of the coding sequence in 18 breeds of cattle from Pakistan, Nigeria and USA. Similarity analysis allowed the allocation of sequences into 22 haplotypes. Bhagnari, Brangus, Sokoto Gudali, andWhite Fulani, had the highest number of haplotypes, while Angus, Hereford and Nari Master had the least. However, when analyzed by the average haplotype count, Angus, Bhagnari, Hereford, Holstein, Muturu showed the highest values, while Cholistani, Lohani, and Nari Master showed the lowest values. Haplotype 4 was found in the highest number of individuals (74), and in 15 breeds. Sequences for yak, bison, and water buffalo, were included within the bovine haplotypes. Medium Joining network showed that the sequences could be divided into 4 groups: one with highly similar haplotypes containing mostly Asian and African breeds, one with almost all of the Bos taurus American breeds, one mid-diverse group with mostly Asian and African sequences, and one group with highly divergent haplotypes with five N’Dama sequences and one from each of White Fulani, Dhanni, Tharparkar, and Bhagnari. The large genetic diversity found in IFNAA could be a very good indication of the genetic variation among the different genes of IFNA and could be an adaptation for these species in response to viral challenges they face.Item Open Access GENE FLOW BETWEEN NIGERIAN SHEEP BREEDS AS REVEALED BY MICRO SATELLITE DNA MARKERS(Department of Animal Science, Nasarawa State University, Keffi., 2020-02-11) Yakubu, Abdulmojeeb; Agaviezor, B.0; Peters, S.O; Ajayi, F.O; Gunn, Hollingsheed H; Adefenwa, M.A; Adebambo, O.A; Ozoje, M.O; Ikeobi, C.O.N; Wheto, M.; Ajayi, O.O; Amusan, S.A; Ekundayo, J.O; Sanni, Timothy M; Okpeku, M.; Onasanya, Gbolabo O; Donato, Marcos De; Ilori, M.B; Kizilkaya, Kadir; Imumorin, I.GThe presence and level of gene flow between the four major Nigerian sheep breeds (West African Dwarf (WAD), Yankasa, Balami and Uda) was assessed using microsatellite DNA markers. DNA was extracted from 50~1of whole blood using the ZymoBead™ Genomic DNA Kit The DNA was amplified by PCR in a MyCycler™ Thermal Cycler (Biorad, Hercules, CA) using 15microsatellite markers selected. DNA fragment analysis of microsatellite markers was carried out using the Applied BioSystems 3730xl DNA Analyzer (Applied Biosystems, Carlsbad, CA, USA). The level of gene flow or population structure was assessed by STRUCTURE software and barplots generated by DISTRUCT. At K=2, two clusters was constituted from breeds descending from Balami and Yankasa, both of which are from Northern region in Nigeria. At K=3 and K=4, one more cluster emerged and further analyses did not reveal any additional strong high level substructure, so separating the entire the entire datasets into 3 major clusters was chosen as the final configuration. There are however, several cases of adm ixtures in the genome of some of the individuals that constitute the cluster. Yankasa and Salami breed had more cases of admixtures followed by Udawhile the WAD was the least breed with cases of admixturesItem Open Access Genetic diversity among Trypanosoma vivax strains detected in naturally infected cattle in Nigeria based on ITS1 of rDNA and diagnostic antigen gene sequences(Department of Animal Science, Nasarawa State University, Keffi., 2017-09-05) Takeet, Michael I.; Fagbemi, Benjamin O.; Peters, S.O; Donato, Marcos De; Yakubu, Abdulmojeed; Wheto, M.; Imumorin, I.GTrypanosoma vivax (sub-genus Duttonella) is largely responsible for non profitable livestock production in sub-Sahara Africa. In Nigeria, no study has addressed the molecular characteristic of T. vivax except Y486. Hence, we characterized and assessed the genetic diversity among T. vivax detected in naturally infected cattle in Nigeria using internal transcribed spacer 1 (ITS1) of ribosoma DNA (rDNA) and diagnostic antigen gene (DAG) sequences. The length of ITS1 and DAG sequences range from 215–220 to 257–338 bp, respectively and the mean G–C contents were 60 and 61.5 %. Homology search revealed 93–99 and 95–100 % homologies to T. vivax DAG and ITS1 sequences from GenBank. Aligned sequences revealed both ITS1 rDNA and DAG to be less polymorphic but DAG sequences of the Y486 strain and its clone showed marked variation from autochthonous strains. Phylogenetic analysis yielded tree that grouped T. vivax ITS1rDNA gene and DAG sequences into two main clades each. Considering the ITI1 rDNA sequences, clade A contained autochthonous T. vivax within which the South American sequences clustered, clade B contained the sequences of T. vivax from East Africa. Analysis of DAG revealed that the clade A contains autochthonous T. vivax sequences but clade B contained the Y486 and its clones. In conclusion, the diagnostic antigen gene sequences of the T. vivax detected in this study may have undergone considerable gene recombination through time and suggests that more than one strain of T. vivax exist among cattle population in NigeriaItem Open Access Genetic Diversity in Exon 2 of the Major Histocompatibility Complex Class II DQB1 Locus in Nigerian Goats(Department of Animal Science, Nasarawa State University, Keffi., 2013-04-12) Yakubu, Abdulmojeed; Salako, Adebowale E.; Donato, Marcos De; Takeet, Michael I.; Peters, S.O; Adefenwa, Mufliat A; Okpeku, Moses; Wheto, Mathew; Agaviezor, Brilliant O.; Sanni, Timothy M; Ajayi, Oyeyemi O.; Onasanya, Gbolabo O; Ekundayo, Oludotun J; Ilori, Babatunde M; Amusan, Samuel A; Imumorin, I.GThe DQB1 locus is located in the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class II region and involved in immune response. We identified 20 polymorphic sites in a 228 bp fragment of exon 2, one of the most critical regions of the MHC DQB1 gene, in 60 Nigerian goats. Four sites are located in the peptide binding region, and 10 amino acid substitutions are peculiar to Nigerian goats, compared with published sequences. A significantly higher ratio of nonsynonymous/synonymous substitutions (dN/dS) suggests that allelic sequence evolution is driven by balancing selection (P\0.01). In silico functional analysis using PANTHER predicted that substitution P56R, with a subPSEC score of -4.00629 (Pdeleterious = 0.73229), is harmful to protein function. The phylogenetic tree from consensus sequences placed the two northern breeds closer to each other than either was to the southern goats. This first report of sequence diversity at the DQB1 locus for any African goat breed may be useful in the search for disease-resistant genotypesItem Open Access Molecular Diagnosis of Subclinical African Trypanosoma vivax Infection and Association with Physiological Indices and Serum Metabolites in Extensively Managed Goats in the Tropics(Department of Animal Science, Nasarawa State University, Keffi., 2013-06-27) Sanni, Timothy M; Onasanya, Gbolabo O; Adefenwa, Mufliat A; Yakubu, Abdulmojeed; Ikeobi, C.O.N; Adebambo, O.A; Talabi, Adewale O.; Ozoje, M.O; Wheto, M.; Takeet, Michael I.; Peters, S.O; Donato, Marcos De; Thomas, Bolaji N.; Imumorin, I.GTrypanosomosis remains a major challenge to livestock production in much of tropical Sub-Saharan Africa, while diagnosis and treatment still depend on inefficient parasitological techniques. Endemic infections depend on animal reservoirs with subclinical parasitemia. We report molecular diagnosis of subclinical Trypanosoma vivax (T. vivax) infection using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for the first time in Nigerian goats and associate parasite presence with gross physiological traits and serum metabolites in extensively managed Nigerian goats. PCR was used to amplify a 400 bp DNA fragment of the parasite genome in 205 goats across three geographical zones of the country. Results showed a high subclinical infection rate (SCIR) of 71.7% in the total goats examined. Overall SCIRs of 71%, 75.9% and 55.6% were recorded in West African Dwarf, Red Sokoto and Sahel goats respectively, while geographical SCIRs were 71.2% (Southwest), 75% (Northwest) and 70% (Northeast). T. vivax presence had significant (P < 0.05) effect on respiratory rate and is associated with higher creatinine levels in sera. Logistic regression analyses with Hosmer-Lemeshow goodness- of-fit showed that respiratory rate is the most important predictive trait for the presence of T. vivax infection (P < 0.05). Goats appear to be a viable reservoir for T. vivax infection of other livestock. Molecular diagnosis of subclinical trypanosomosis using PCR could be useful for large scale epidemiological studies, early diagnosis of subclinical infection and treatment of the disease in extensively managed tropical goats.Item Open Access Molecular survey of pathogenic trypanosomes in naturally infected Nigerian cattle(Department of Animal Science, Nasarawa State University, Keffi., 2013-09-12) Takeet, Michael I.; Fagbemi, Benjamin O.; Donato, Marcos De; Yakubu, Abdulmojeed; Rodulfo, Hectorina E.; Peters, S.O; Wheto, M.; Imumorin, I.GMicroscopy and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) were used to survey pathogenic trypanosome infection in naturally infected Nigerian cattle. In 411 animals sampled, microscopy detected 15.1% positive infection of at least one of Trypanosoma brucei, Trypanosoma congolense or Trypanosoma vivax, while PCR detected 63.7% positive infections of at least one of those species and Trypanosoma evansi. PCR detected 4.4%, 48.7%, 26.0% and 0.5% respectively of T. brucei, T. congolense, T. vivax and T. evansi infections. All of the T. congolense detected were savannah-type, except for two forest-type infections. Prevalence of mixed infections was 13.9%, being primarily co-infection by T. congolense and T. vivax while prevalence of mixed infections by T. evansi, T. vivax and T. congolense was 1.5%. Microscopy showed poor sensitivity but specificity greater than 94%. Infection rates were much higher in Southern than in Northern Nigeria. Infections were lowest in N’dama compared to Muturu, Sokoto Gudali and White Fulani breeds. Animals with T. vivax monoinfection and mixed infections showed significantly lower packed cell volume (PCV) values. Those infected with any Trypanosoma species with <200 parasites/ll showed higher PCV values than those infected with >200 parasites/ll. The new finding of savannah- and forest- type T. congolense in Nigeria and the relatively high abundance of mixed infections are of significant clinical relevance. This study also suggests that T. congolense is the most prevalent species in NigeriaItem Open Access Morphological and microsatellite DNA diversity of Nigerian indigenous sheep(Department of Animal Science, Nasarawa State University, Keffi., 2012-04-22) Agaviezor, B.O; Peters, S,O; Adefenwa, Mufliat A; Yakubu, Abdulmojeed; Adebambo, O.A; Ozoje, M.O; Ikeobi, C.O.N; Wheto, M.; Ajayi, O.O; Amusan, S.A; Ekundayo, Oludotun J; Sanni, Timothy M; Okpeku, M; Onasanya, Gbolabo O; Donato, Marcos De; Ilori, Babatunde M; Kizilkaya, Kadir; Imumorin, I.GBackground: Sheep is important in the socio-economic lives of people around the world. It is estimated that more than half of our once common livestock breeds are now endangered. Since genetic characterization of Nigerian sheep is still lacking, we analyzed ten morphological traits on 402 animals and 15 microsatellite DNA markers in 384 animals of the 4 Nigerian sheep breeds to better understand genetic diversity for breeding management and germplasm conservation. Results: Morphological traits of Uda and Balami were significantly (P < 0.05) higher than Yankasa, which were both higher than West African Dwarf (WAD) sheep. Stepwise discriminant analysis showed tail length, rump height, chest girth, ear length and chest depth as the most discriminating variables for classification. Mahalanobis distances show the least differentiation between Uda and Balami and the largest between WAD and Balami sheep. While 93.3% of WAD sheep were correctly assigned to their source genetic group, 63.9% of Yankasa, 61.2% of Balami and 45.2% of Uda were classified correctly by nearest neighbour discriminant analysis. The overall high Polymorphism Information Content (PIC) of all microsatellite markers ranged from 0.751 to 0.927 supporting their use in genetic characterization. Expected heterozygosity was high for all loci (0.783 to 0.93). Mean heterozygote deficiency across all populations (0.171 to 0.534) possibly indicate significant inbreeding (P < 0.05). Mean values for FST, FIT and FIS statistics across all loci were 0.088, 0.394 and 0.336 respectively. Yankasa and Balami are the most closely related breeds (DA = 0.184) while WAD and Balami are the farthest apart breeds (DA = 0.665), which is coincident with distance based on morphological analysis and population structure assessed by STRUCTURE. Conclusions: These results suggest that within-breed genetic variation in Nigerian sheep is higher than between-breeds and may be a valuable tool for genetic improvement and conservation. The higher genetic variability in Yankasa suggests the presence of unique ancestral alleles reflecting the presence of certain functional genes which may result in better adaptability in more agro-ecological zones of Nigeria. These genetic characteristics are potentially useful in planning improvement and conservation strategies in Nigerian indigenous sheepItem Open Access A Novel TaqI Polymorphism in the Coding Region of the Ovine TNXB Gene in the MHC Class III Region: Morphostructural and Physiological Influences(Department of Animal Science, Nasarawa State University, Keffi., 2013-07-23) Ajayi, O.O; Yakubu, Abdulmojeed; Adefenwa, Mufliat A; Agaviezor, Brilliant O.; Ikeobi, Christian O. N.; Wheto, Matthew; Okpeku, Moses; Amusan, Samuel A; Donato, Marcos De; Peters, Sunday O.; Imumorin, Ikhide G.Abstract The tenascin-XB (TNXB) gene has antiadhesive effects, functions in matrix maturation in connective tissues, and localizes to the major histocompatibility complex class III region. We hypothesized that it may influence adaptive physiological response through an effect on blood vessel function. We identified a novel g.1324 A?G polymorphism at a TaqI recognition site in a 454 bp fragment of ovine TNXB and genotyped it in 150 Nigerian sheep using PCR-RFLP. The missense Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s10528-013-9622-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. O. O. Ajayi B. O. Agaviezor C. O. N. Ikeobi M. Wheto S. A. Amusan S. O. Peters Department of Animal Breeding and Genetics, University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Nigeria O. O. Ajayi M. A. Adefenwa B. O. Agaviezor A. Yakubu M. De Donato S. O. Peters I. G. Imumorin (&) Department of Animal Science, Cornell University, 267 Morrison Hall, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA e-mail: igi2@cornell.edu M. A. Adefenwa Department of Cell Biology and Genetics, University of Lagos, Lagos, Nigeria B. O. Agaviezor Department of Animal Science and Fisheries, University of Port Harcourt, Port-Harcourt, Nigeria M. Okpeku Department of Livestock Production, Niger Delta University, Amassoma, Nigeria A. Yakubu Department of Animal Science, Nasarawa State University, Lafia, Nigeria M. De Donato Department of Biomedicine, Universidad de Oriente, Cumana´, Venezuela S. O. Peters Department of Animal Science, Berry College, Mount Berry, GA 30149, USA 123 mutation changes glutamic acid (GAA) to glycine (GGA). Among SNP genotypes, significant differences (P\0.05) were observed in body weight and fore cannon bone length. Interaction effects of breed, SNP genotype, and geographic location had a significant effect (P\0.05) on chest girth. The SNP genotype was significantly (P\0.05) associated with physiological traits of pulse rate and skin temperature. The observed effect of this novel polymorphism may be mediated through its role in connective tissue biology, requiring further association and functional studies.